Would Jon Gruden be a good fit here in San Diego?

I know we have "The Next Coach of the San Diego Chargers" threads and what not, but I wanted to be more direct here and get people's thoughts.

First off, do we have the $ to lure him from ESPN? Supposedly AJ and Jon are "good" friends, and we've seen how that has gone with the Norv Turner era. AJ too shy to pull the trigger, so I'm concerned if it doesn't work out here in San Diego and say we miss the playoffs 4 straight years, will AJ have the balls to pull the plug?

I have my concerns, but I also have good expectations if he lands here in San Diego. One, would be Rich Bisaccia would be held here. And also, would John Pagano be here? I think it would be stupid to fire a guy who turned a defense that was ranked 16th in points allowed, 23rd in total yards, 17th against the pass, and 23rd against the run, and one of the worst 3rd down defenses of all time, to a defense ranked 13th in points allowed, 17th in total yards, 19th against the pass, and 3rd against the run and 7th best defense in the league. And secondly, Gruden is a "QB Guru" supposedly, could he tweak Rivers' mechanics and make him a better QB? You talk about his brother Jay Gruden here as well as OC, someone who developed Andy Dalton and a creative offense.

Thirdly, this team needs a motivator. They need a guy who shows emotions. Need a guy who can get these players fired up. And also a guy who knows what it takes to get to the big dance. He should of been to 2 Super Bowls, but he got ****** over in New England in the Snow Bowl.

Don't forget the Broncos weren't in the division last year, or we would of been 7-9 and a worse ranking against the pass. Luckily we got that Orton **** show, and Tebow mania.

I wouldn't be overwhelmed with excitement for Gruden, but I think his attitude is exactly what this franchise needs.

The question is will Spanos pay, I wouldn't be surprised if he wants to be the highest paid coach in the game, and he's got all the leverage.

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Well he comes with a good track record. I mean after his Super Bowl year he wasn't left with much in Tampa. And that isn't a big market or great place to play. Over-paid players endured cap issues, and the draft picks he lost when he was acquired from Oakland.

the guy has brought a team to the Super Bowl with an old hag at QB, and a dominating, mean defense. Even with Oakland he did a great job, they really should of played in a Super Bowl, as much as I hate to say it.

Well he comes with a good track record. I mean after his Super Bowl year he wasn't left with much in Tampa. And that isn't a big market or great place to play. Over-paid players endured cap issues, and the draft picks he lost when he was acquired from Oakland.

the guy has brought a team to the Super Bowl with an old hag at QB, and a dominating, mean defense. Even with Oakland he did a great job, they really should of played in a Super Bowl, as much as I hate to say it.

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You ain't kiddin, the Bucs gave up 2 firsts and 2 seconds for Gruden, not much left to build with. The Bucs got old really really fast.

But he is rumored to Philly as well? I don't consider Philly a "big" market, though others will.. I don't..

Denver isn't a "big" market team, isn't that where Peyton wanted to go? A big market team? To me it all depends on your plan and $.

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It's considerably bigger than San Diego is, particularly in terms of revenue. "Market" size is determined far more in terms of the total population making up the market-share, and in this case the Philadelphia market is comprised of four of the largest cities in the state not named Pittsburgh (Philly, Harrisburg, Reading, and Allentown/Scranton). It's not huge, but it's pretty good-sized.

It's considerably bigger than San Diego is, particularly in terms of revenue. "Market" size is determined far more in terms of the total population making up the market-share, and in this case the Philadelphia market is comprised of four of the largest cities in the state not named Pittsburgh (Philly, Harrisburg, Reading, and Allentown/Scranton). It's not huge, but it's pretty good-sized.

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I was talking in terms of football-wise. I understand what is meant by it, but I disagree with it. I don't understand why he'd want to inherit that job either. Its a bigger mess than San Diego is, and far more pressure to win and a tougher division that will have to deal with RGIII for the next decade, the NYG Giants who will forever be around as long as Eli Manning is, and a Dallas team that has high expectations every year. Atleast here he has, a GM he knows well, previous success in the AFC West, a franchise QB if he is well protected, a defense on the rise, and a coach he is very familiar with, as well as the weather of course and only clear cut threat, as of right now is Denver.

I'm not against it as an idea, I think he's a pretty good coach regardless but yeah he took a very good team over the top but when that group got old it was game over. But I worry about these retreads, are there many cases where popular and successful coaches in one place are successful in another location?

I'm not against it as an idea, I think he's a pretty good coach regardless but yeah he took a very good team over the top but when that group got old it was game over. But I worry about these retreads, are there many cases where popular and successful coaches in one place are successful in another location?

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Gruden won in Oakland and Tampa bay so you know he can win in different environments.

Also, unlike Norv, he was able to go to Tampa and take an already good team (under Dungy) and take them to a Superbowl.

Anyone would be better than what we have at this point. Norv has been turning lemonade into lemons for too long.

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See. I hate that attitude. It's exactly that kind of attitude that Spanos is going to capitalize on to install a HC that is "smart for business" but not necessarily "smart for competitiveness". Because by comparison to Norv a garden gnome is going to look like a better option. But just being "better than Norv" shouldn't be sufficient and is hardly that standard anyone should be striving for.

Also, to note for Gruden, for all those that want to tout his "success" in Tampa. You do realize that outside of that Super Bowl win he never had another playoff win during his entire tenure in Tampa, right? That even the members of that great defense that Tony Dungy and Monte Kiffin built have come out and said as much that far more credit for that SB title should go to those two for building the team than to anything Gruden did. Gruden was given the keys to the Ferrari and didn't drive it off the cliff... at least for a couple years.

See. I hate that attitude. It's exactly that kind of attitude that Spanos is going to capitalize on to install a HC that is "smart for business" but not necessarily "smart for competitiveness". Because by comparison to Norv a garden gnome is going to look like a better option. But just being "better than Norv" shouldn't be sufficient and is hardly that standard anyone should be striving for.

Also, to note for Gruden, for all those that want to tout his "success" in Tampa. You do realize that outside of that Super Bowl win he never had another playoff win during his entire tenure in Tampa, right? That even the members of that great defense that Tony Dungy and Monte Kiffin built have come out and said as much that far more credit for that SB title should go to those two for building the team than to anything Gruden did. Gruden was given the keys to the Ferrari and didn't drive it off the cliff... at least for a couple years.

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I'm not saying it is sufficient, and to be honest, I don't know enough about Gruden to make an accurate assessment of whether or not he'd be the guy for us, but what I do know is that Norv has lost this team, he's had his chance, and he needs to go.

In the end I think it is irrelevant as I can't see the team paying AJ off to fire him, I can't see them spending big bucks on a big name coach, nor could I see most big name coaches wanting to coach under AJ anyway.

I'm not saying it is sufficient, and to be honest, I don't know enough about Gruden to make an accurate assessment of whether or not he'd be the guy for us, but what I do know is that Norv has lost this team, he's had his chance, and he needs to go.

In the end I think it is irrelevant as I can't see the team paying AJ off to fire him, I can't see them spending big bucks on a big name coach, nor could I see most big name coaches wanting to coach under AJ anyway.

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See, I feel like this has already been proven to be false in some way. To some coaches, the guys who come from the Marty coaching tree, yes... coaching under AJ would be viewed as undesirable because of how he was perceived to be the guy "chosen" over their mentor (those of us who paid attention to how things went down know that's hardly the case for how it went, but that's neither here nor there with how it was perceived). But Jeff Fisher all but confirmed that had we canned AJ last year, Smith would have been his first choice GM candidate to partner with in St. Louis. We don't want to believe it but AJ does carry a lot of clout with a good chunk of the coaching community. This isn't Jerry Jones or Al Davis we're talking about... or even Mike Brown.

See. I hate that attitude. It's exactly that kind of attitude that Spanos is going to capitalize on to install a HC that is "smart for business" but not necessarily "smart for competitiveness". Because by comparison to Norv a garden gnome is going to look like a better option. But just being "better than Norv" shouldn't be sufficient and is hardly that standard anyone should be striving for.

Also, to note for Gruden, for all those that want to tout his "success" in Tampa. You do realize that outside of that Super Bowl win he never had another playoff win during his entire tenure in Tampa, right? That even the members of that great defense that Tony Dungy and Monte Kiffin built have come out and said as much that far more credit for that SB title should go to those two for building the team than to anything Gruden did. Gruden was given the keys to the Ferrari and didn't drive it off the cliff... at least for a couple years.

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Wasn't Norv pretty much handed the keys to the Ferrari in 2007 when he inherited a 14-2 team?

Wasn't Norv pretty much handed the keys to the Ferrari in 2007 when he inherited a 14-2 team?

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What's your point?

I wasn't trying to nor did I make a reference that Norv was a superior coach, rather that many of the critiques people have made of Norv and Marty are also things Gruden was inherently guilty of in his tenure in Tampa. Yes... the man won a Super Bowl with Dungy's team... then did exactly what Norv did here.

I'm still waiting to hear someone give a legitimate reason why Gruden is a quality candidate other than his Super Bowl ring (see above), his "feisty" attitude, and that he's "a better option than Norv Turner" (see 90% of the coaches in the league).